New Haven: Blood Feuds

Chapter 2 - The Mortals

Meeting the ones, who are cursed to know Ellenore

16

SEP/14

Scene 1 – Back at home

Ellenore woke up in this evening. Memories of yesterday’s success were still rolling over her mind. But here she was, back in her house. Queen of her game in the party, and an ordinary landlord here. She felt exhausted and hungry.

Ellenore heard some commotion downstairs, and decided to check it out right away. Normally she was the one being a bit too noisy at such a late hour, so that was unexpected.

Once she got down she realized that Everett was arguing with Jasper. Ellenore heard Jasper shout:
“I don’t want that shit in our home!”

She strode in, putting her hands in her side. “What the hell is going on here?”

“I think shouting at night is counted as disturbing the peace. Look, if he’s not hurting anyone but himself, fine, I guess. Just don’t smoke inside, and no sudden plantations in the yard, ok?” Ellenore shrugged. “Besides that I really don’t care. Surely you two can just stay out of each other’s hair?”

“What? Bah…” Jasper stormed out of the room.

Everett said:
“Don’t worry, Ellenore. I’m just smoking some. Umm.. Now what he’s not around, would you like some? We could go sit in the yard and relax a bit,” he said with a calm smile.

“There was someone I had to call, but… I guess I can take a moment to relax, yeah.” She grinned, walking out into the yard ahead of him.

Everett followed Ellenore into the yard. There he sat on the chair next to the table and started spinning the joint.

Ellenore watched him with keen interest; this was all somewhat nostalgic to her. “Where do you get your stuff?”

“Um… one dude at work. He used to walk around with red eyes all the time. I asked him once if he’s smoking he said no. After a couple more times I came up to him and said ‘I know you’re smoking’ after that confrontation he said yes… and now he sells it to me. Tho, he sat in jail for this so he’s very careful now… doesn’t even buy papers himself and rolls into ordinary paper…” he said while carefully looking at the paper

“Cops have nothing better to do than crack down on some harmless fun these days.”

“Yeah… He was a small time dealer back then. Wouldn’t even get into anything more serious than weed. Is quite reluctant right now too, only gives a call to some of his contacts from the old times who I go to meet.”
He was finishing up the joint.

“I’ve still got a few contacts as well… from my wilder days. Well, I guess it wasn’t wilder, just another kind of wild.” She throws her hair back over her shoulder, getting ready to avert her gaze for a bit if he gets out a lighter.

He pulls out a lighter. “Um.. Wanna start?” he asks extending the joint and the lighter towards Ellenore.

He lights it up, takes a few deep hits and hands the joint over to Ellenore.

Ellenore accepts it with a smile, drawing in herself, before slowly blowing out a cloud of smoke. It didn’t do anything for her, but she knew it wouldn’t. She’d take care of that. There were other ways. She handed the joint back to him. “I didn’t know Jasper cared so much about this stuff.”

“Seems he does,” he said before smoking some more. After a few more rounds the joint was done. Everett was sitting in his chair, calmly looking into the house nearby.

Ellenore let her seductive charm reach out towards him, smiling brightly as she touched the back of her fingers to his neck, stroking gently, letting her own inner desire crawl from her and underneath his skin.

Once he was sufficiently wrapped around her finger, she leaned in as if to kiss him, her fangs finding his neck. She let some of his warm blood run down her throat, and along with that the intoxication she could no longer achieve through ordinary ways. Drawing back, she gently licked the wound shut, closing her eyes to enjoy the dual buzz of blood and drugs for a moment.

Scene 2 – Calling Sarah

After leaving Everett to his own buzzed-out sleep, she picked up her phone and rang up Sarah’s old number, emboldened by her own high. She paced around impatiently as the phone rang.

Ellenore giggled into the phone. “What? Drunk? Me? Pff, I don’t drink, silly! Not anymore. Not like, alcohol. I drink some stuff, need to drink to stay alive, you know? Haha, yeah. I don’t know the time. My phone is my watch, and I can’t find it! I thought it was in my pocket…”

“What? Ellenore, why are you calling me?” she said with a slightly irritated voice.

“Cuz I miss you, you know?” She lets out a little sob. “I wanna see you again…”

“After what you’ve done, you want to see me? While drunk?”

“‘m not drunk,” she said sulkily. “‘m just… bit high… only a bit. And ‘m sorry, I was stupid!”

“Yes, you were. Perhaps they say the truth.. drunk people say what they actually think. Whatever the case. If you want to apologise to me, then do it while being sober. Good night.” she said before hanging up.

Ellenore lowered the cellphone away from her ear, sobbing for a little bit, her eyes streaked with a few bloody tears, until she spotted the cellphone in her hand. “Oh… that’s where it is! Should I call her to say I found it? Maybe not…”

Scene 3 – Meeting the Ghoul

The Pulse was completely empty tonight. Well, at least the VIP part of it. Ellenore was sitting alone waiting for the man she ghouled yesterday. The man, who fought for his own life and won. She just now realised that she didn’t even know his name.

She was tapping her foot to the rhythm of the beat, seemingly feeling pretty good about everything just about then, not even caring about sitting there all by herself. She was pretty good at keeping herself occupied within the confines of her own mind when she was coursing off on her latest high.

After a couple minutes a man was led her by the Pulse’s waitress. “Here you go, Ellenore is waiting for you here.” She pointed at your table, bowed her head a little. “Would you like anything?” She asked Ellenore.

“Oh yeah, I’d like to send an invite, but not yet, yeah? I’ll call you.” She jovially tapped the table with the flat of her hand. “Sit down, sit down… guy! What’s your name? I can’t call you guy.”

“Darius! Wow! Sit down, relax!” she laughed at him for a moment. “We didn’t meet in the best of circumstances, did we? I’m Ellenore, hello!” She held out a hand for him to shake.

“I don’t even know why I’m here… Well I figured that I’ll be killed if I don’t do what you say… so I don’t understand your friendliness…”

“Hey, hey, whoa! Killing isn’t my style; I’m a good girl, right? I don’t have a fucking clue about all this either, Dolores just sprung you on me, and I didn’t want to lose face, right?” She grinned at him as if she were telling something funny to an old friend. “So now you’re here so we can figure this thing out. Still standing? Lighten up!”

“Figure this out? You guys killed a dozen people. She… she did things to me… and now you’re just asking to lighten up?”

“Hey, I didn’t kill anybody. You can hardly expect me to jump in and stop it, right? I got killed the first time I ran into a Duchagne, you made it out alive!” She shrugged. “It’s not going to help being gloomy, is it? Damn, I should have taken some of that grass with me. Help you relax a bit.”

“As you say… so what do you want with me?”

“Tell me about Dolores. Where’d she find you?”

“In a boxing ring. Me and the others used to fight there…”

“Yeah, this is good, we’re talking! So how did she pull you into all of this stuff?”

“Told us she has a special job for us, which will pay well. Next thing I know, I got a choice either to do as she says, die or worse…”

Ellenore tapped her lips with a finger. “Sounds rough! No wonder you don’t like me. You don’t have to stay, you know. I don’t care. I’m not going to hunt you down or anything… I never wanted you in the first place! No offense, I’m sure you’re a great guy…”

“So I can just go? Alright then… I wish to forget this as just a bad dream. Except… one more thing… Umm… That stuff you gave me. Could you give me some more before I go? Last taste… well second… anyways…”

“Hah! That’s the trap, you know. That’s it, right there! You know drugs, first hit always free, right? It’s something like that. If I give you another sip, you’ll never be able to go, trust me!” She chuckled, shaking her head at this ignorance. “Hey, maybe Dolores will get pissed if she finds out you left. Please don’t be easy to find. I doubt she’ll keep an interest if it’s too much trouble.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve had drugs in my life. That’s the key, you never do them more than once or twice and you’re good. I’ll be fine, trust me. And Dolores won’t be able to find me, don’t worry.”

Ellenore put her arm around the guy, drawing him closer by a shoulder and poking him in the chest with a finger. “You. I like you, guy. Darias. Alright, if you want it, just a parting gift!” She looked around, then put a finger to her lips before whispering conspiratorially: “But just a little bit, okay?”

“Sure,” he said excitedly.

Ellenore glanced around again before biting her thumb, breaking the skin. She holds her thumb out to him, letting a little bit of vitae trickle out.

Darius starts to greedily drink’

Ellenore leaned her head back, pressing her free hand up against her forehead as she laughed. “You look like a toddler with a pacifier like that! And it tickles!” Approximately one vitae later she’ll withdraw her hand. “Ok, that’s quite enough. I’m supposed to be the bloodsucker here!”

“That was amazing… Well, thanks. I’ll be going now.”

“Bye!” she waved him off, her mind already half on what sort of of person she’d invite over for a little bite. “Don’t use ghoul superpowers unfairly in the ring! I’ll know!” After that she’ll wave the ghoul waitress over.

The waitress came up.
“How may I help you?”

“Hey, yeah, send an invitation! Broad shouldered, muscular… you know the type. Don’t bother testing for intelligence, it’s not a conversation I want him for anyway.”

“As you ask. I think, I just saw one of those trying to hook with a girl by the bar” she said walking towards the door.

A minute later she entered together with a bulky alpha male guy. “She invited you here”. The guy came up.

“Hey, I’m Ben.” he threw one of those overself confident smiles.

She fluttered her eyelashes, her allure reaching out to him like a flower calls a bee. “You may call me whatever you’d like, handsome. Come, sit with me. I saved a seat just for you. Look how soft these benches are… such potential.”

“Sure, Honey,” he said before sitting down, “you look great.”

“So do you… full of potential.” She flashed him a grin. She’d get some fun out of him, wind him up a bit more and in the end take a bite that would leave him feeling a bit hungover in the morning. He was a big boy, she was sure he could take it.

Scene 4 – Calling Sarah while sober

Ellenore woke up this evening feeling great. The house was silent this evening, which suited her just fine. She picked up her phone and started texting Sarah. “Hey u stll up? Can I call?”. After a couple minutes she received a response “R u drunk again?”

“nah lol”

“right”

“is that yes go ahead?”

After a second Ellenore’s phone started ringing. Sarah was calling.

Ellenore smiled as she leaned back in her sofa, picking up the phone. “Hey! See, I’m not drunk.”

“Look, if you wanna talk” she was speaking quite fast, her voice betrayed annoyance “ just drop by my work tomorrow, during lunch. If you really want to apologise… I don’t got other time for this.. for your shit” she said before hanging up.

“What! Hey! I’m trying to be nice!” she shouted at the cell phone, even though it was quite clearly futile. “Well fuck.” She pondered her next move for a moment. Sarah had sounded quite sincere. But did she mean during the day? Bummer. She’d just have to dress for the occasion, she supposed.

She turned the cell around, and called Anna instead.

As the phone was ringing someone knocked at the door.
“Are you alright?” said Everett.

She cancelled the call for a moment. “Everett? You can come in.”

Everett entered the room, he had his guitar in hand.

“Sorry, I was coming to your room when I heard you shouting… Are you okay?” he smiled at Ellenore.

She motioned at him to sit down in one of her chairs. “Yeah, just… a little argument with a friend.” She frowned. “I guess I just shouted at the phone after they hung up, but still.”

“That totally happens. She’ll get around, don’t worry.”

“I’ll have to go meet her tomorrow during the day. I’ll be sooo tired.”

“Well, an energy drink or two and you’ll be fine. Some people stay up for whole days. Um anyways… yesterday inspired me, so today I wrote a song. For you,” his eyes looked a bit heavy

She shrugged. “Fine with me.” Grabbing her jacket from her bed, she followed him outside.

Outside he started playing his guitar and singing a song to Ellenore. It was clearly a song of affection towards her, but nothing too cheesy.

Ellenore couldn’t help but grin a bit, patting the guy on the back at the end. “That’s… really sweet of you, Everett. Umm… I don’t think anyone’s ever written a song for me, so… thanks.” She messed with her clothes for a second, unsure what to say. “It’s… late, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but you’re a night person, ain’t you?” he smiled at Ellenore, with a somewhat awkward smile.

“Ah, yeah… yeah. I guess… I am.” She coughed. “But you’re not and I wouldn’t wanna… keep you up.”

“Yeah… I’m pretty tired… I only slept a couple of hours last night… Anyways, I think you’re right.” he smiled, but his eyes betrayed sadness. “Good night”

Everett went for the door.

She sighed as he left. The only time she ever decided to go with her inner feelings, she ended up hurting someone. Every other time she repressed it, and people ended up getting hurt, too. She really was a miserable wretch at times. She fished her phone out of her pocket, and attempted to call Anna for the second time that night, inviting her over.

Scene 5 – Ann comes over

A couple of hours passed andAnn came over. She knew that she shouldn’t make any sound when coming here – others are sleeping after all. As usual she looked very happy to see Ellenore.

Ellenore smiles at her, embraced her and kissed her on both cheeks. “You came right away! That’s what I like about you. So dependable.”

“Of course, I did, Ellenore. You can always trust me,” she smiled at Ellenore.

“Thank God there’s at least one of you walking around, Anne. Come with me to my room. You can leave your shoes in the shoe rack by the door, as usual.”

“Sure” she said, taking off her long shoes and leaving them there. Once the girls got into Ellenore’s room she said. “So what are we going to be doing tonight?”

“It’s not so much about what we’re doing tonight, but about what I need to do tomorrow. I really need to be somewhere at noon, but I’m liable to fall asleep by myself. I need you to make sure I don’t.” She grinned.

“Sure. That doesn’t feel like a problem. Anyways, we haven’t met in quite a while. How are you?”

“I’m… alright. I’ve been through a lot of stuff, but I think the worst is behind me right now. Now I’m just glueing some pieces together that I’ve lost on the way. Remember Sarah? I did some bitchy stuff to her, so that’s why I’m trying to make it up to her tomorrow.”

“You did bitchy stuff? She probably deserved it then…”

Ellenore laughed. “Ahh… sadly no, but you sure know how to cheer a girl up!”

Ann smiled. “Still quite a while until the morning. Would you like me to do something for you while we’re waiting?”

Ellenore shook loose her hair and held out a hairbrush to Ann as she sat herself down on a chair, her back turned towards the other girl. “I haven’t had my hair brushed by someone of your delicacy in a while. One or two hundred strokes should do.”

“Sure thing” she said before starting to brush Ellenore’s hair.

“What about you? How are the… things… you do?” Ellenore didn’t really have any idea of what Ann actually did to fill her time.

“Um. Me? You never ask about me”. It looked like Ann is surprised to hear the question.

“I must have asked… at some point, right? Maybe.” She shrugged to herself. She wasn’t sure what had prompted the question in the first place. Ann was Ann, nothing else had ever really seemed important about that.

“Well” she said as she was brushing Ellenore’s hair “I don’t sleep too much nowadays. It’s strange really, before this, I thought that even 40 hours each day wouldn’t be enough to do all the stuff I want done… now that I actually got more time, I don’t know where to spend it. Is that normal? Anyways, my dad is starting to get worried, wants me to go see the doctors… Why doesn’t he understand? I feel great. I am great.”

Ellenore nodded vaguely. “Uh huh. Yeah. Great. Ow, watch those knots…” She frowned as the brush caught on a clump of hair for a moment. “There’s a guy here who seems to have a crush on me. He’s an ok bloke, but not my type. How do I quietly dissuade him?”

“Quietly? Umm… Tell him so? Um.. Tell him you’re a lesbian? Tell him you have a boyfriend? Does he have any reason to think that you might be into him?”

“You’re so sweet. Not wanting to break his heart too much. Anyways, if you want, I’d gladly be your lover.”

“Are you a good kisser? It’s only going to look good if you’re a good kisser.”

“I think I am. You can teach me, if I’m not up to your standards.”

Ellenore nodded thoughtfully. “We’ve got some time before morning, perhaps I will.”

“Oh… also…” she said as she was brushing Ellenore’s hair. “I… I didn’t have a taste of you in quite a while. I miss the feeling.”

Ellenore turned around on the chair and stroked her cheek. “Very well. If you do this well enough for me, I’ll give you a taste. It’s not too hard for me to mix it up with a kiss, you know…”

Ann leaned towards Ellenore.

Scene 6 – Meeting Sarah

Ellenore felt her skin burning up slowly as she walked towards the park. She knew that with a bit of her own life force, she’ll get away from this… at worst, she’ll say it’s a rash. But still, it feels wrong. Walking in the sun, and having her insides twist with the desire to run towards the closest door. In any case, she gulped down the feeling and pressed on. This was part of her penance, and she deserved every bit of pain it brought her.

Sarah was sitting on one of the benches in front of the monument, eating her sandwich. She didn’t see Ellenore just yet.

Ellenore walked over to her, flashing a little smile. “Is that seat taken?”

Sarah just smiled a little, it was obvious that she’s trying to hide that.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Ellenore sat herself down besides her, pulling her stylish headgear down a little bit. “I wouldn’t sit out here personally. Everyone could be watching you eat.”

“So? It’s a nice park. It’s calm in here. I find it easy to relax in here. And nobody died of being watched yet.”

“It just… creeps me out when people are watching.” She scraped her throat, looking everywhere but at Sarah. “So… been a while… huh?”

“You could certainly say so”. She glanced at Ellenore, after which she turned at her and started looking at her, surprised.

“What? Is there something on my face?” Ellenore tried wiping her cheeks.

“Your skin. What happened? You should probably go see a doctor or something”

Ellenore’s eyes went wide, suddenly realizing what she was on about. “Oh, umm… I did… it’s a rash… umm… doctor says it’s photoactive. It, like, gets worse in the sun.” She pulled the hat down a bit further to shade her face. “It clears up quite quickly in the shadow.”

“Oh… that must suck… no sun tanning? Or beaches?”

“Yeah… until further notice.” She scratched the back of her neck, slightly embarrassed. “Maybe I can pull off the pale Victorian look.”

“Well, sun tan always looked good on you.”

“But hey, tell me about you instead. I… kinda came out here for that, after all.”

“Yeah, we can talk about that as well. So what did you come here for?”

“Told you, didn’t I? I miss you, and I want us to be friends again.” She turned her head, smiling at her slightly from underneath the rim of her hat.

“Wow… You don’t change, do you?”

“Excuse me?”

“So you sobered up and you no longer have the guts to say it?”

Rolls her eyes. “That I’ve been a bitch? I guess I just didn’t realize how important it was for you to hear that multiple times. If you called me here just to watch me be self-deprecating then I think that is rather petty. You know how I feel about my past behaviour. I assumed that was the important part, not hearing me repeat myself yet again.” She shrugged. “If that’s what you need to hear I’m willing to do that, but saying I have no guts because I assumed that wasn’t your goal is a bit much.”

“Fuck you,” she said taking the last bite of her sandwich. She looked quite annoyed.

Ellenore suddenly had to laugh. That expression on her was much too familiar. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m making an effort here, though. Meet me halfway?”

“Wasn’t that hard, was it?”

“Heh, maybe not. Bit easier while high, though. Or was that the phone?”

“Probably… so I know a nice cafe nearby. Let’s go grab a cup there?”

Ellenore nodded. “You won’t be late for work?”

“I’ll be fine” she said with a slight smile on her face, standing up and turning towards one of the paths. “Besides, that way we’ll get you out of the sun”

“Which would be much appreciated. Alright, let’s go then.” She stands up, following her friend.

After a great talk with her old friend they said good bye to each other. Ellenore stood up from the table and started walking towards the door, where she stopped walking, realizing that the blazing sun is outside. Her beast wanted to run in the opposite direction, hide in the bathroom until the night hits.

“I can’t-!” she suddenly bolted in the opposite direction, away from the sun and into a bathroom stall. She locked it for good measure, huddling on top of the closed toilet, her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms around her legs to stop herself from shaking.

Within seconds Sarah face banging at the door.
“Ellenore, what happened? Are you alright?”

“No! I’m not leaving! It’ll burn me!” She huddles in her hiding place, shuddering at the prospect.

“Ellenore, what happened? Who’s going to burn you?”

“Outside! The sun!”

“The sun? Is this about your skin thing?”

“It hurts… I can’t go…”

“Uh… Don’t worry girl. Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine. Just come out and I’ll find something to cover you up with… Um… And I’ll lead you home.”

Ellenore put her hands against the side of her head. “B-but… I can’t…”

“Ellenore, please come out. Everything is fine.”

“But it’s there! It’s out there!”

“Sun can’t hurt you. Nothing will hurt you out there. Please” she said, looking around her shoulder. Everyone within the restaurant was watching the scene.

Ellenore opened the door slightly. “Promise?”

“Of course.” she said, looking around. She took of the flower from one of the tables and took the table cloth. She pulled some money out of her purse, clearly more than needed to cover that. After that she tried to wrap Ellenore around

“I’m sorry… I’m like… claustrophobic but with sunlight instead of walls…” she muttered as she let Sarah lead her along docily.

Sarah called taxi and led Ellenore back home. At Ellenore’s house she asked:
“Will you be alright? My boss will probably want to stage a little scene for me.”

“I’m… I’m fine… I’m sorry… I thought I could handle coming outside in the day…”

“What? You seemed so fine at first? Did you tell me everything about your condition?”